Articles by Ross Brady

That the creators of “Doctor Strange” chose its animation to depict the act of bending reality, as p racticed by the film’s characters, speaks volumes.

If you want to start an argument, ask a room full of architects if they think their profession’s wor k is a form of art. While the ensuing debate plays out for eternity, you can take a short break to check out the work in “Crossed Path Identities,” an exhibition exploring the overlap between architecture and…

Earlier this month, the architect and educator Peter Zellner announced plans to start a new, cost-fr ee institution for architectural education — the Free School of Architecture — next summer in Los Angeles. His announcement followed closely on the heels of an op-ed he wrote for the Architect’s Newspaper, which delineated his critique of architectural education’s…

“Workplace,” the latest documentary from director Gary Hustwit, had a run of screenings at the Archi tecture & Design Film Festival last week. As the most recent entry in Hustwit’s series of design-focused films — preceded by the popular “Helvetica” as well as “Objectified” and “Urbanized” — it presents another opportunity to watch the director and…

It’s been over two years since New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced “Housing New York”: his administration’s 10-year plan to integrate 200,000 units of affordable housing into the city’s stock. By their account, the plan is on track, as the administration claims creating or preserving 53,000 units since then. With residential development in…

For a very long time, a microculture of celebrity in architecture has placed an undue focus on the i ndividual, undercutting the profession by keeping architects from organizing on a large scale. This prevents the ability to push an agenda or have any appreciable measure of control over the built environment, in turn ceding this power…

There’s a wide range of tools used by architects and planners to communicate the potential impact of major projects. Drawings, for example, are one of the most basic, as are masterplans, market studies and environmental surveys. None of these, however, are quite as accessible and powerful as a series of interventions being developed for the…

In the recent past, outdoor space in high-rise buildings has gone from being called “roof decks” and “balconies” to “sky gardens” and “sky parks.” The real estate branding potential in the “sky” part of the label is obvious, but a more significant shift is evident in the choice of the second word, as it denotes…

Brown is perhaps the color most taken for granted in architecture; yet, its use is pervasive.